Thursday, November 22, 2012

The 4th of July celebrates the independence of our country from the British. Thanksgiving celebrates who we are. It is the closest thing America has to a traditional folk festival - it is our Oktoberfest, our Tomatina, our Highland Games. No matter where you go in the world, even if people don't know why, they know that Americans eat Turkey on Thanksgiving.

It is the only national spiritual holiday to originate in America. And the one which most stuck in my memory of a childhood spent at embassies overseas. Before the civil rights movement brought us non-demoniational prayer in public events, it was the only day when a Jewish American, a Christian American, A Moslem American, and every American, could share what is, in most religions, the most basic of all prayers: a prayer of thanks.

And the one day when nearly every person in America, no matter what their ethnic or national origin, will sit down to nearly exactly the same meal. The same experience.
The same post turkey stupor.

I would write more, but you see where I am going with this. And i am off to the table, to join America in its feast.